[ssp]

At a public charging station (ChargePoint), I charged up my PHEV for about 2 hours but had to leave before it was fully charged. I figured out how to have ChargePoint stop charging , but my car refused to let go of the plug. I had locked the doors when I left it and when I came back I unlocked them but just could not figure out how to get the Niro to let go. I tried pressing the Auto/Lock Mode button but that didn't help.

Eventually, I pulled the emergency release cable under the hood.

 

[cockedandglocked]

The cable unlocks when you unlock your doors, but if you don't pull the cable out within 10 seconds, the plug auto-locks again.

So you pretty much have to unlock your doors and then pull the plug out before you do anything else.

If it re-locks before you can unplug it, then you have to unlock your car doors again and try again. Sometimes you may have to lock your doors first, then unlock them again.

It had me frustrated and confused for a while, too. But eventually you just get in the habit of unplugging as soon as you unlock the car, and it's no big deal.

Apparently Kia thinks charging cable theft is some really major problem, and I dunno, maybe in some cities it is?

 

[ssp]

yeah, I saw that 10 sec thing in the manual and it seemed like I tried it within that window but I'll give it another try tomorrow. So many things to learn!

 

[Nouseformonkeys]

Apparently Kia thinks charging cable theft is some really major problem, and I dunno, maybe in some cities it is?

Another reason might be to prevent someone parking next to you and taking the charger out of your car and plugging it into theirs.

 

[cockedandglocked]

yeah, I saw that 10 sec thing in the manual and it seemed like I tried it within that window but I'll give it another try tomorrow. So many things to learn!

If you listen for it, you can also hear the charger plug mechanism locking and unlocking.

 

[ssp]

Pleased to report that I had an incident-free charging session at work yesterday.